Monday, October 24, 2011

As some of you know, Luke has not only been working with
seven soccer and netball teams with the youth in the Blantyre area BUT he has
also started a soccer team with the little boys in our neighborhood. He is one
BUSY guy. This new soccer team is made up of about 15 small boys, ages 7-12.
They have already had three practices consisting of bible study, prayer,
warm-ups, drills and a lot of laughing! Luke told the boys to talk to one
another and come up with a team name. The next day, they all showed up at our
door with joy as they announced their team name: LYZEE UNTIED. These kids are
so precious and are hungry for the Word.Please be praying for this new ministry. We are so happy to have the
kids over and pour into them. Luke asked one of the older guys from the
Chilomoni soccer ministry team to help coach. So there is a bit of discipleship
there as Luke and Shedrech are working hand in hand taking turns with the Bible
lessons as they go chronologically through the Word with the kids.It’s been great to see him jump into
this ministry and share his faith with the younger generation.

We asked the kids what they know about the Bible.Only one of them had read the Word of
God and none of them could tell me another Bible story besides Adam and
Eve.That will soon change.They come every Tuesday and Thursday
afternoon ready to learn about Jesus and how this book called the Bible is the
most precious book on the face of the earth. We wish you could see their eyes
as we explain how God created the heaven and the earth but how God treasures
human beings far more than anything else. Some of these boys are not viewed as
treasures by the world but these boys are treasures in the eyes of God and
treasures to us.

Through ministry here we’ve been able to step into the lives
of the Malawian people. Luke has had good conversations about marriage,
relationships, and more while working with the young men here. Last week, in
our neighborhood, we experienced the reality of the heartbreak and suffering of
death. The younger brother of Vutso (one of the boy’s on the little soccer
team) died. He had been fighting malaria for a week and on Sunday he stepped
into eternity. He was three. His name was Kumbukani and he had spent several
days playing in our yard.His
mother is named Gloria and they live a few houses down from us. Just a few days
ago, I (Becca) saw Gloria on the road and we walked together. She told me about
the many trips to the hospital and her little boy’s last days. We’ve learned
that death here brings the same hurt but is dealt with in a completely
different way.In Malawi, death is
so much more expected. There is no shock in the death of a child here but there
is still deep pain. Deep loss.Please be praying for Gloria and her family as they grieve. She has 4
other children at home. Pray for her as she adjusts to life without her youngest child. Pray that we can show her the love of the Lord.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Above is a few pics from day two of the Sports Ministry
Leadership training.After much preparation, translation, and prayer, we saw God
show up in a huge way on Saturday!It
was an incredible time with the 24 sports ministry leaders who showed up for the
intense day of training. We did practical examples, brainstorming sessions, needs assessments of the different communities and much more. The leaders had been encouraged to come up with one ball for their teams and then Fostance and I would give them a second to encourage them to go for it! What a joy it was to give them a ball that they can use to draw a crowd to tell people about Jesus. (Thanks Bob and Chris Reed for the ball donation!) In addition, thanks to so many of you, we were able to give them each their own Bible in Chichewa. They kneeled down on the floor in respect to receive God's Word. It was humbling. These people know how powerful this Book is and that it holds the Words of Life and they treat it that way. Many of them have never owned their own Bible before. We are so unworthy to be a part of something like this.

I closed the day by sharing just a
bit about what God has been teaching me lately from the Word.Rev. 19:1-16 and Rev 20-21 were the
passages that we dug into.The
Lord was at work as charged them to go and be the Body of Christ in
their communities because our time is short and that great day is soon
approaching when we will all stand in front of God and He will either wipe away
all our tears and welcome us home or send us to eternal punishment because we
rejected His Son, the one and only sacrifice for our sin.We have got to tell people about this
day!We must warn people and plead
with them to put their trust in the rock of Jesus Christ because the poured-out
cup of the wrath of God is coming like a mighty wave and people will need to be
covered in the blood of Christ on that day.Maybe that great and terrifying day will be tomorrow. I closed by encouraging them to live
like tomorrow could be the day that Jesus returns so let’s spend ourselves
proclaiming His glory.

The day closed with an awesome time
of prayer and singing as we sought God to break through in Malawi and to
unleash His Spirit in a profound way that changes the face of this whole
nation.These people pray for big
things and are teaching us a lot about fervent prayer.What an incredible day!Thanks so much for your prayer. We got to see the fruits of your hard labor in prayer and sacrificial
giving and we wish you could have seen it! But…hopefully you’ve enjoyed the
pictures that we posted from that day.

The youth are very excited to take
what they’ve learned and now go multiply the Gospel in their townships using
sports as the platform. Join us in giving God praise for His wonderful works!